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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: 27 YEARS AGO TODAY, RIC FLAIR BECOMES 'THE MAN' FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER

September 17th 

On this day in history in ....

1958 - Billy Wicks defeats Buddy Fuller for the NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Title in Lafayette, Louisiana.

1966 - Betty Boucher defeats The Fabulous Moolah in Seattle, Washington for the NWA World Women's Championship, ending Moolah's first reign as champion.

1970 - The Texas Outlaws, Dick Murdoch & Dusty Rhodes, defeat Jose Lothario & Argentina Apollo in Jacksonville, Florida to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Title.

1981 - Ric Flair defeats Dusty Rhodes in Kansas City, Missouri to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. This was Ric Flair's first World Heavyweight singles title victory.

1982 - Harley Race defeats Dick The Bruiser in St. Louis, Missouri to win his fourth Missouri State Heavyweight Title.

1983 - The World Wrestling Council holds their 10th anniversary show at Roberto Clemente Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, drawing a crowd of 32,000 fans. Here are the results:
- Miguel Perez defeated Barrabas.
- Pete Sanchez defeated Assassin #2 in under thirty seconds.
- Bob Sweetan defeated Gama Singh.
- Hercules Ayala defeated The Iron Shiek.
- Pierre Martel defeated Don Kent.
- Abdullah Tomba defeated Gorilla Monsoon in less than two minutes.
- WWC World Tag Team Champions The Super Medics defeated Chief Thundercloud & Chuy.
- WWC North American Champion Pedro Morales defeated Ric Flair via disqualification.
- WWC Puerto Rican Champion King Tonga (Meng/Haku) defeated Dory Funk Jr.
- Invader #2 defeated Ox Baker.
- Kendo Nagasaki vs. El Gran Apollo ended in a twenty minute draw. 
- WWC Universal Champion Carlos Colon vs. NWA World Champion Harley Race ended in a one hour draw.
- Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras defeated The Infernos.
- Andre The Giant defeated Abdullah The Butcher via countout.

1986 - At a WWF television taping in Salisbury, Maryland, Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are permanently paired together as the hosts of Wrestling Challenge, creating one of the most celebrated announcing teams in wrestling history. 

1987 - WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeats Harley Race in a steel cage match in Kansas City, Missouri. Because the match was held in Race's old stomping grounds of Kansas City, he had a large amount of crowd support during the match. 

1988 - TNT (Savio Vega) defeats Buddy Landel in Bayamon, Puerto Rico to win the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Title for the second time.

1988 - Ron Garvin defeats Greg Gagne in Nashville, Tennessee to win the AWA International Television Title. Garvin would be the only man to hold the title other than Gagne (the belt only existed for two years).

1995 - WCW held their Fall Brawl event in Asheville, North Carolina with the following results: 
In matches that aired on TBS' Main Event:
- Big Bubba Rogers defeated Mark Minh.
- Disco Inferno defeated Joey Maggs.
- Alex Wright vs. Eddie Guerrero ended in a no-contest. 
- The American Males defeated The Nasty Boys after interference from Bunkhouse Buck & Dick Slater.
In matches broadcast on the PPV:
- Johnny B. Badd defeated Brian Pillman when both men went for a cross bodyblock, and Badd came out on top. 
- Craig Pittman defeated Cobra in under two minutes with a cross armbreaker. Cobra was distracted by one of Pittman's "soldiers" and Pittman repelled into the ring from the ceiling and got the quick win.
- Diamond Dallas Page defeated The Renegade with a Diamond Cutter (and help from Maxx Muscle) to win the WCW Television Title.
- Harlem Heat defeated Bunkhouse Buck & Dick Slater to win the WCW World Tag Team Title for the third time after interference from the Nasty Boys. 
- Arn Anderson defeated Ric Flair with a DDT after Brian Pillman kicked Flair from the outside. 
- Hulk Hogan, Sting, Randy Savage & Lex Luger defeated Kamala, Zodiac (Brutus Beefcake), Shark (John Tenta) & Meng in a War Games match when Hogan forced Zodiac to submit to a chinlock. As a result, Hogan got five minutes with Kevin Sullivan, but The Giant attacked Hogan.

2000 - Miho Wakizawa defeats Nanae Takahashi for the All Japan Singles Title in Tokyo, Japan.

2000 - WCW held their Fall Brawl event in Buffalo, New York. This would be the final Fall Brawl event. Here is Tim Whitehead's original report on the show:

WCW's Fall Brawl from Buffalo proved to be their best PPV in quite some time. I thought that most everyone worked really hard and there seemed to be signs that some of the younger guys are starting to get some fan reactions. The Buffalo crowd was hot, which helped the show a lot. There were a few of the usual problems, such as too much stuff being thrown out at once, with the result that none of it means all that much. But on balance this was a good, solid show and a step in the right direction. Commentary was okay, as the new team of Schiavone, Madden, and Hudson are a pretty good trio most of the time.

ELIX SKIPPER defeated KWEE WEE in 11:03 to retain the Cruiserweight Title. Paisley was with Kwee Wee and they have good charisma together. Skipper brought out the captive Major Gunns with him. Kwee Wee dropkicked Skipper out. They traded some good spots, but messed up a leap frog attempt. Skipper did a somersault off the ropes over Kwee Wee, and then suplexed him. After Skipper hit a twisting legdrop for a near fall, Hudson compared him to Johnny Walker. I'll bet most of the current fans don't remember Mr. Wrestling II, let alone Johnny Walker. Skipper hit an Asai moonsault that took out a cameraman. I believe it was Jackie Crockett. Kwee Wee blocked the overdrive and hit a powerbomb. Kwee Wee scored several two counts as the Natural Born Thrillers came out to watch. Skipper bumped out and with the ref momentarily distracted, Mike Sanders hit Kwee Wee in the leg with a stick. Skipper hit a crossbody but Kwee Wee rolled through for a near fall. However, Skipper began working on the injured leg and won with the Overdrive. The commentators wondered aloud why the Thrillers had attacked Kwee Wee. Good opener.

LT. LOCO & CPL. CAJUN & SGT. AWOL defeated THREE COUNT in 10:24. Three Count sang "I Can't Get You Out Of My Heart" before the match. It sucked. Shannon Moore started off hot, hitting a moonsault. Awol came in and got a huge pop using power moves. Moore and Shane Helms doubled on Cajun. Evan Karagias got some near falls on Cajun, who remained tied up in the wrong corner. Cajun hot tagged Awol, who cleaned house until taking a low blow. Moore, Loco, and Karagias all did dives to the floor. Awol got bumped off the apron and went through a table. Before bumping he did a spot where he held Moore up by the hair. Loco was getting tripled on by Three Count when Cajun nailed Helms with his powerbomb-type move and got the pin. Good, all action match.

They aired a segment where Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, and Jeff Jarrett refused to sign autographs for some kid. The kid was laughing, which kind of undermined the intent.

THE HARRIS BOYS defeated KRONIC in a chain match in 6:37. Brian Adams upped the ante and had this made into a First Blood match. This was better than you'd think, partly because the crowd was into it and partly because these guys are passable at generic brawling. And basically they just brawled around and into the crowd. Ron Harris juiced first but the ref had been bumped and didn't see it. Mark Madden denied that Harris was bleeding and Hudson sarcastically said that maybe he's just having his period or something. Funny! Anyway, Adams then juiced and the ref saw it, ending the match. Kronic gave the ref High Times afterward.

LANCE STORM beat COL. RECTION to retain the U.S. Title in 6:44. Storm did his Canada routine, as usual. He brought out the captive Major Gunns. Question: Why bring her out when she's likely to interfere to help your opponent? Hacksaw Duggan was with Rection. Rection no sold some chops and sent Storm out of the ring. Rection hit a superplex. Storm came back with crossbody to the floor. Rection scored a series of twos, with Storm bailing out, though Duggan tossed him back in. Gunns distracted the ref to allow Duggan to interfere, but instead of helping Rection, he used the 2x4 on him and removed his shirt to reveal a Canadian Maple Leaf logo shirt underneath. This would have drawn incredible heat if A) it had occurred 15 years ago in Bill Watts' promotion, and B) it had involved a country more threatening than Canada. As it is, it was about as memorable as Dusty Rhodes' turn a couple of years ago, which no one remembers. At least it was better than Heidi's Canuck sell-out. Storm quickly won with a sharpshooter type submission. The other MIA's ran in but Duggan laid them out with the 2x4. Overall, a decent match.

THE FILTHY ANIMALS went to a no-contest with THE NATURAL BORN THRILLERS in 16:33. A pretty good match which had to be abbreviated due to a legit injury. Before the match, Gene Okerlund interviewed the Thrillers and was doing the obscenity gimmick, calling them pricks and piss ants. Weird! Mike Sanders said the Filthy Animals are composed of midgets and one Cheez Whiz sucking trailer park hoochie. Madden said he didn't know Disco Inferno liked Cheez Whiz. Anyway, this was an elimination match and they did keep it moving. Rey Mysterio Jr. & Juventud Guerrera did some little man/big man spots with Mark Jindrak & Sean O'Haire. Big Vito cleaned house. Konnan came in and was doing well until Disco accidentally gave him the Last Dance and O'Hair pinned him. Disco ended up pinned by Reno when his own partners abandoned him in retaliation for the Konnan pin. Vito was looking good in there but got pinned by Reno after a kendo stick shot. Paul Orndorff, who was on the Animal team, gave his partners a pep talk. Juvie went in and did some good moves before pinning Reno. Juvie bumped out and Jindrak & O'Hair hip tossed him back in from the floor. O'Haire then pinned Juvie with the Seanton Bomb. Orndorff went in and gave Jindrak two piledrivers, but on the second one Jindrak apparently didn't go up right and Orndorff collapsed, telling trainer Danny Young that he lost feeling in his arm. The wrestlers continued on for a minute or so, not really knowing what to do (the original plan was for the Animals to win in the end) before ref Charles Robinson decided to just declare a no-contest due to the seriousness of Orndorff's injury. Orndorff was stretchered out and at press time it appears he suffered a stinger (compressed nerve) and should be okay.

SHANE DOUGLAS & TORRIE WILSON defeated BILLY KIDMAN & MADUSA in a scaffold match in 4:54. Douglas vowed to refund the fans' money if he lost. Boy, does that ever telegraph the result. The word "bitch" was heard quite often during the promos. This was billed as a Pittsburgh Plunge scaffold match. It was 15 feet up, billed as 20, which is typical. Instead of being over the ring, this scaffold was over a heavily padded area in the entranceway. For everyone's safety, that was good, but it also destroys the aura of these matches when people fall off and are obviously landing on cushioned pads. Shane and Kidman wrestled around on the scaffold and teased going over. Madusa got on the ladder and Shane caused her to fall off, and she clearly landed on padding. Torrie, who didn't do much, gave Kidman a low blow and Shane then hurled him off. He also visibly landed on padding. Both falls would have otherwise been deadly, and it put the commentators in a bind because they couldn't sell the falls as horrendous when everyone watching could see the falls were padded, and they couldn't downplay the falls either, for obvious reasons. It's probably best to put the scaffold gimmick in mothballs for a few years.

Sting did a promo and Jeff Jarrett attacked him, laying him out. Okerlund was continuing to use four-letter words to the point that Madden said if Stacy Kiebler's baby comes out swearing, we'll know Okerlund is the father.

Speaking of the baby, Mike Tenay visited David Flair at home. He was out of it, as usual, with candles all over (even though it was daylight) and pizza boxes and beer bottles laying around. Tenay asked about who the father is, hinting at Ric Flair. The postman arrived, delivering mail, and David accused him of being the father and put him in a figure four. Madden said David has gone postal.

STING beat GREAT MUTA and VAMPIRO in a three way match in 5:10. Insane Clown Posse did commentary and were pretty funny, especially calling Muta the "Great Moolah". Not a good match. Muta mostly watched while Sting and Vampiro brawled around. Muta finally hit a moonsault and tried to pin Sting but Vampiro broke it up. Vampiro and Muta got into it, with the ICP running in. Sting laid everyone out with a bat and pinned Muta with the Death Drop. Afterward, Sting saved Muta from a three-on-one from Vampiro & ICP.

MIKE AWESOME defeated JEFF JARRETT in 9:03. Awesome, doing his "that 70's guy" gimmick, brought in Gary Coleman from the old TV series "Different Strokes". Awesome called Coleman a 70's star though Coleman insisted he was from the 80's. Jarrett came out wearing a Tennessee Titans jersey (hell yeah!) and ridiculed the hell out of several members of the Bills, who were on the front row. This was an okay brawl. They fought with chairs, and Awesome took a backdrop through a table. Jarrett got hurled into a table wrapped in barbed wire. Awesome got a near fall with a powerbomb. The Bills players got on the apron and began acting as lumberjacks, taking shots at Jarrett. Awesome got another near fall on Jarrett. Coleman ran in and gave Jarrett a low blow, but Jarrett barely sold it and busted a guitar over Coleman's head. Finally, Sting ran in and gave Jarrett the Death Drop and Awesome got the pin.

SCOTT STEINER defeated BILL GOLDBERG in 13:49 in a no DQ match. Goldberg shoulderblocked and press slammed Steiner. Steiner scored two with a lariat and an elbow. It was power move city and it was actually a pretty solid display with a hot crowd. Steiner hit a belly-to-belly suplex. Goldberg caught Steiner coming off the top and planted him. Each guy scored some twos. Midajah came out and gave Steiner a pipe but Goldberg speared him. Vince Russo then made his dramatic return from brain surgery and used a bat on Goldberg. Steiner slammed Goldberg through a table and hooked the recliner but Goldberg powered out. They put Goldberg over as superman by having Midajah and Russo hit him with the weapons again but Steiner still couldn't put him out with the recliner. Goldberg even came back with a neckbreaker but Russo used the pipe on him yet again and this time Goldberg passed out (but did not verbally submit) in the recliner. The Bills players helped Goldberg to the back afterward. He legit aggravated an injury in the match.

BOOKER T defeated KEVIN NASH in a cage match to regain the WCW World Tag Titles in 9:01. Booker started off hot but Nash nailed him and got a series of near pins. Booker carried this to an okay match, though as cage matches go it wasn't memorable. Nash removed the turnbuckle padding. Guess who got rammed into the exposed steel? Nash did the boot to the face and chokeslam spot for a near fall. Booker raked Nash across the cage and he juiced. The commentators noted, correctly, that Nash almost never juices. Booker hit a missile kick. Nash retaliated with a boot to the face. Booker blocked the jackknife and hit the Bookend out of nowhere to pin Nash and regain the belt.

2002 - Matt Stryker defeats Cody Hawk for the HWA Heavyweight Title in Cincinnati, Ohio.

2004 - WWE holds a house show in Bossier City, Louisiana with a theme of being a "Tribute To Mid-South Wrestling". As Jim Ross (who got his start in Mid-South) addressed the crowd, he was interrupted by Jonathan Coachman, who insulted the legacy of Mid-South Wrestling. This resulted in Michaels Hayes and Arn Anderson beating up Coachman to the delight of the crowd.

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